Chinese Insurer Buys Sydney Hyde Park Sheraton for $400 Million

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has sold its Sheraton hotel in Sydney to China’s Sunshine Insurance Group Ltd. for A$463 million ($400 million).

Starwood will continue to manage the five-star hotel, overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park, under its current brand, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said in a statement. It put the hotel up for sale in May, according to a statement at the time from broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

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“We’re continuing to see strong investor interest around the world for our remaining assets,” Simon Turner, president of global development for Starwood, said in today’s statement. Foreign buyers have snapped up a number of Sydney five-star hotels in the past 18 months as the city’s occupancy rate heads for the highest since at least 2000. Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. bought the Four Seasons for A$340 million and Singapore-based Frasers Centrepoint Ltd. acquired the Sofitel Wentworth for A$201 million.

Australia had about $1.9 billion of hotel transactions in 2013, the highest on record, according to JLL figures.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is seeking at least A$400 million from the sale of its Sydney center hotel, and has appointed JLL to find a buyer, people with knowledge of the matter said this week.

The Sheraton purchase allows Beijing-based Sunshine to diversify its holdings with a “trophy asset” in Sydney, an unnamed spokesman for the insurer said in the statement today.